nevertheless, I do know what I like

On Tuesday night Grumpy and I went to check out Greg Osby playing at the Beck's Verandah. Really, I was just tagging along. I don't know anything about music, musicians or musical instruments and jazz is Grumpy's whole scene, man.

As we walked up the stairs Grumpy said, "I suppose I should have warned you that this guy plays the alto sax."
"What does that mean?"
"That's the instrument that's playing when you complain that it sounds like a mosquito."

Zeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Anyway, going to these shows is like going to church with the Grumpy family for the occasional christening or funeral. (And when I say church, I do mean RC: old school, real deal.) You have to observe what other people are doing. At church it's knowing when to cross yourself (and the first time I see a fist flying towards a forehead my first instinct is to duck and weave in surprise; a habit Grumpy somewhat understandably abhors); when listening to jazz it's knowing when to applaud.

I usually spend the rest of the time checking out the audience. There was a guy who held a glass of red wine to his cheek all night and nodded thoughtfully at what I assumed were appropriate moments. If only he'd been wearing a black skivvy. There were a couple of bespectacled, be-acned young musical prodigies who seemed to understand everything that was going on and shared a few wry, appreciative grins and even, weirdly, did that hand slap thing a couple of times. Oh, and we also saw a comrade of Grumpy's who had split up with his wife and has spent the last few months trying to win her back. I watched them for a few minutes: she talking and talking and talking at him while he had his head bent over his Chinese pail of food. I said to Grumpy, "Do you think at times like this he says to himself, 'You know, I was kind of happy on my own.'?"

The Grumpmeister kept up a lively commentary:
"The drummer is really kicking things along."
"The Os is totally feeding off the drummer."

The Os! That Grumpy!

When we left I asked him, "Was that any good?"
"Apart from the drummer it was pretty average. What did you think?"

I bent my arms at my sides. My hands were up next to my shoulders and I began flapping them madly. "Zeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"